Landscape Management, June 2017
surrounded myself with industry people I just mine them for information What Ive found is most of them dont have a business background Theyre really good at plants and growing things but theyre not very good at gross margins and efficiencies My husband Rob Solomon is a horticulturist with a degree from Cal Poly He was definitely the one who opened my eyes up to the green industry I could see the passion that he had and I caught the bug He has mentored me as far as operations go When I initially started like a lot of entrepreneurs I wanted to create my own hours and my own goals and not be told by a corporation when to show up and when to leave and what to do for the day I had that entrepreneurial spirit to work really hard to produce something great that Im proud of So I think thats what got me started was the attitude of not getting stuck in a box Creating my own business was a way for me to create my own path in my life and in my career When we started the business 17 summers ago it was just me my husband Rob one guy named Antonio and a truck and trailer So Ive been a laborer an irrigation tech an area manager basically every job in the company Ive personally ManageMent LandsCaPe done My position is you cant just slip into a leadership position successfully without Coast doing that If you want to lead Photo people you need to walk in their shoes and know what its like June 2017 LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET S9 Ive always been a hard worker I used to race sailboats in my 20s so I was around all men crews My competitive edge was definitely created on a sailboat wanting to win a race It was a sense of pride If Im going to work my ass off I want to win so I think Ive applied that at Coast My first exposure to a female running a business was at a nonprofit tourism bureau where I did sales She was the executive director and answered to a board of directors that were all males I watched her operate and she mentored me She taught me how to be a leader as a woman with men Being direct and transparent is what it takes to work in a male dominated business for me Its cut and dried and simple but a lot of people dont realize you have to be really direct and you can be heard Sure women can be a little emotional but so can men I am fearless so I dont have hang ups I can tell people I dont have the answer to their question I dont think that I have to know everything But I think that I know where to look and I am a strong leader Ive worked for a lot of men and I dont remember them being quite that fearless If you want to lead people you need to walk in their shoes and know what its like KeLLy soLoMon My biggeSt MiStake waS You never want to leave too much money on the table if you want to be competitive You also dont want to overcharge and be the guy that people dont consider serious in their business practices So I think my first learning curve was finding that sweet spot where I was affordable but still profitable Kelly Solomon
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